Winter Fair and Open Studios
Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th November, 10am - 4pm
The Hearth Arts Centre’s Winter Fair and Open Studios is a great time to meet the Hearth’s resident artists in their studios and to see a selection of the highest quality crafts made in the North of England. I'll be in my studio to welcome you all weekend. There's no obligation to buy, just feel free to come in, ask any questions you have and enjoy the atmosphere. Address and directions. Free entry.
All 10 resident artists will be opening their studios and showing their latest work. We are privileged to have a wide range of art and craft represented including painting, printmaking, textiles and ceramics. I'll be exhibiting my latest etchings, giclee prints and the original artwork for my new Christmas cards. Packs will be available to purchase. You can also buy them online.
The Hearth Cafe will be serving fair trade teas, specialist coffee, home baked cakes, light lunches and on Sunday will be serving its traditional Sunday roast.
Guest stallholders are selected for the quality and diversity of their work. At the Winter Fair, the emphasis is on offering visitors the opportunity to do their Christmas shopping in a warm and convivial atmosphere. Please read on to see who will be bringing their work to The Hearth this year...
Horsley Village Church will be open throughout the weekend with music and family arts and crafts.
Here's a selection of some of the art and craft that will be on display:
Ceri Aitman, Oakwood Soaperie
Oakwood Soaperie specialises in natural, cold pressed soaps, bath products and skincare, all handmade in small batches using the finest pure plant ingredients, Northumbrian honey and beeswax, natural clays, essential oils and natural colourants. Oakwood Soaperie is based in the grounds of Gibside which provides some of the organic botanicals for their products.
Joanna Bourne
Joanna Bourne is a printmaker living in Newcastle. Her hand-printed woodcuts are inspired by the allotments, park and town moor near her home, she uses layers of semi-transparent inks in subtle shades to convey fleeting moments in the nature and wildlife of the city. Jo exhibits her prints both locally and nationally.
Natalie Henderson, Vintage Luxe
Natalie will be selling luxurious gifts made from up-cycled cashmere, vintage glass, driftwood & sea glass. She will also be selling gift vouchers for her popular upcycling workshops to be held at The Hearth and her Corbridge studio throughout 2018. A wonderful 'experience' gift for someone who enjoys making unusual and quirky things...
Ellie Langley
Ellie Langley is a British wool specialist feltmaker. She keeps a small and varied flock of sheep, purely for their wool, at her environment award winning smallholding. This home-grown, renewable resource forms the basis of her work. Ellie produces unique functional felted items ranging from egg cosies to coffins, notebooks to tents.
Pam Peart and Dorian Pritchard
Pam has kept cottage hives of honeybees for 35 years. She uses the excess wax from her colonies to model her beautiful candles.
Beekeeper Dorian Pritchard’s bees have been producing Hadrian’s Wall Country Honey for many years. Based in Heddon-on-the-Wall, Dorian’s honey could hardly be more local!
Sue Reed, The Woolly Pedlar
Sue Reed upcycles waste wool knitwear into a range of colourful clothing, soft furnishings and accessories for all the family. Working from home, in her woolly garret in rural West Northumberland, The Woolly Pedlar is looking forward to bringing her quirky creation to The Hearth again this year. Discounts given in return for donations of wool knitwear.
Mr. T’s Utensils
Tom Turnell entirely hand makes wooden utensils to be used and valued. Working from The Bothy on the Gibside Estate in Gateshead, he specialises in cleft and hewn chopping/serving boards, finished with 100% linseed oil and 100% pure beeswax. He also makes 'found' items such as pine whisks and hangers from unwanted Christmas trees, and bent-branch spoons, whose form follow the fibres of the wood.
He believes in combining hand skills and local materials with research of historical items that have lasted.
Sheila Walton, Willow In Durham
Sheila creates an eclectic mix of baskets and other functional and decorative items using English Willow, rush, and other natural and occasionally recycled materials. She particularly enjoys incorporating shells, driftwood and other beachcombing finds into her weaving. Sheila is looking forward to displaying a selection of her recent designs at The Hearth Winter Fair along with several of her angels and a few other old favourites.
More info on The Hearth website